Treaty of Lourdes
The Treaty of Lourdes was the international agreement drawn up by the Lourdes Conference convened in 1919 '''by the Allied and Soviet powers of Europe. It restructured the political face of Europe and legitimised the existence of the three new major communist nations of Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Romania. Background The war had initially been a great success for the Central Powers of the Continent, who possessed superior arms and greater strength in terms of mobility and ability to muster resources due to the authoritarian nature of their societies. By 1915, the war had devolved into a stalemate. With the rise of the Bolsheviks to power in Russia in '''1917, the balance of war changed with the entry of third and fourth factions, the Communists and Anarchists, who mutually opposed both the Central and Allied powers. In early July of 1919, a temporary ceasefire was drawn between the various factions of the war; the exception was the Revolutionary Insurrectionary Army of Ukraine, who refused to recognize the legitimacy of the ceasefire. The Central, Allied, and Communist factions all met at Lourdes, France, one of the cities relatively untouched b y the war and the event became known as the Lourdes Conference. For three weeks, terms of peace were debated. It quickly became apparent that peace was an elusive dream. Thus, the conference quickly became more about forming alliances and finding out who was on who's side. Finally, on July 21, 1919, Continental Europe was restructured. The image at right shows the state of Europe directly prior to the Treaty of Lourdes. Green shows the Entente / Allied powers; Orange shows neutral nations; Grey shows Central Powers; Red shows Communist powers; Black shows anarchist territory; Yellow shows areas contested by Entente, Allied, and Communist powers. Allied Position The Allied nations included the British Empire, France, Finland, Belgium, Greece, Holland, and Serbia. The Allies sought total peace and placed blame for the hostilities squarely on Germany's shoulders, insisting that continuing the war would be nothing but a total loss for the German crown. Communist PositionCategory:2170 AD The Communist nations included the Soviet Republics of Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Romania. They were represented by the Bolshevik delegation, led by Leon Trotsky, from Moscow and sued both powers for peace and recognition of their legitimate right to exist. Final Terms A compromise was agreed upon in which the legitimacy of the communist nations was recognized by the Allies in return for a mutual non-aggression pact. This formed a solid alliance against the Central powers. In response, the Central powers refused to recognize any terms of the Treaty of Lourdes. Additionally, the Republics of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuana, and Beylorussia were absorbed by Soviet Russia. Response of the Central Powers The Imperial governments-in-exile unified themselves into the Blue Movement, and vowed to continue hostilities until their monarchist position was recognized by the world. Italy became a bastion of support for the Blue Movement and virtually all Blue troops relocated to Blue territory. In addition, a large amount of territory in Eastern Europe was organised by the Blues into the "Protectorate of Yugoslavia", a fiercely totalitarian puppet state ruled by military authorities.